For
many years, IDA has campaigned for dogs and cats in South Korea. Because
of our efforts, in 2008 the government amended South Korea's Animal
Protection Act to strengthen protections for animals used for food,
clothing, experimentation, and entertainment. But it is still legal to kill
dogs and cats for human consumption. And the 2008 amendments were never
applied to the killing of dogs and cats for food.

IDA's partners in
South Korea, Coexistence for Animal Rights on Earth (CARE), recently
received a tip about a dog meat "farm" in remote Gyeonggi Province. CARE
activists visited the facility and what they found was appalling. Dogs were
living in miserable conditions in soiled, ramshackle cages. Some had
injuries and all were filthy and uncared for. The waste in the cages
appeared to have never been cleaned and the dogs sat in piles of feces.

The conditions were so
horrible, these brave activists felt they couldn't leave without the dogs.
At the risk of arrest and personal injury, they rescued the dogs and brought
them to CARE's animal shelter to be treated, cleaned and loved for the first
time.

CARE has filed a civil
complaint against the facility, and the owner has agreed to demolish the
buildings and not obtain any more dogs. This is a huge victory for the dogs
of South Korea!

With IDA's assistance, CARE is also gearing up for
lawsuits against dog meat shops in Gyeonggi Province. If convicted, the
butchers could be fined up to 5 million won (around $5,000). This could be a
great deterrent for selling dog meat.

All over South Korea, dogs are
crammed like vegetables into crates. When a customer makes a selection, the
dog is roughly yanked from the cage, strung up, and ruthlessly beaten - in
the presence of the other poor animals - while she writhes and cries out in
pain, urinates and defecates, and slowly strangles to death. The flesh is
then blowtorched to improve the appearance.

Such is the fate of
approximately TWO MILLION dogs each year in South Korea!

Many South
Koreans believe that the adrenaline released into the dogs' bloodstreams by
their terror and agony will increase the sexual potency of the consumer, and
that the beatings "tenderize" the meat.

Cats in South Korea don't
have it any better. Tens of thousands are boiled alive in pressure cookers
each year to make an elixir called goyangi soju which is believed to cure
rheumatism and neuralgia.

This cruelty and suffering continues
because it is supported by government indifference. Profit-driven industry
forces aggressively promote the myth that eating severely mistreated
dogs and cats increases male sexual prowess and general health. These same
people bribe government officials, intimidate animal welfare campaigners and
induce newspapers to extol the "virtues" of dog and cat meat.

We must
ACT NOW!

We must intensify our campaign to pressure the South Korean
government to:

* enforce existing law, and* amend it
to unequivocally state that dogs and cats shall not be killed for human
consumption.

IDA has already begun to
ratchet up our campaign. But I desperately need your continued support to
keep it going.

Please, help us escalate our vital work to protect
these precious beings! Funds are urgently needed to:

* print
thousands of brochures, flyers and posters, asking the public to flood key
South Korean government officials with petitions, letters, phone calls,
faxes, and e-mails.* continue to support the daily work of our
partners in South Korea, Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth (CARE) and
Korean Animal Rights Association (KARA). They have made an urgent request
for our help purchasing billboard space and bus advertisements in South
Korea.

With your help we will win this battle for the millions of
gentle, frightened dogs and cats tortured, mutilated, and killed in South
Korea.

Thank youfor your kindness, generosity, and commitment to end
the exploitation and suffering of our animal friends. Please, if you haven't
already, look at these incredible rescue photos from our colleagues in South
Korea, and then give what you can to help.